BEMIDJI, Minn. - Dr. Dave Bahr will update advances in wind energy during a June 15 program at 3 p.m. in the Bemidji State University Center for Research and Innovation (CRI), located at 3801 Bemidji Avenue North.
Part of the Bemidji Area Natural Resources Continuing Education Consortium series, the 60-minute session is titled "Wind Energy Matures: The Second Generation of Wind" and is open to the public at no charge.
The chair of the Bemidji State University Department of Physics, Bahr feels wind energy is poised to become a significant contributor to America's power grids. "Community-based wind offers local economic development opportunities," he said of the current favorable climate toward alternative sources for electricity. "Green industries and green-collar job are slated to expand dramatically over the current decade. Small wind and a smart grid will enable development of marginal wind resources like Bemidji's." During the presentation, he will discuss wind generation on two levels: the utility scale and the small institutional scale.
On the first, he plans to explain a geographic survey of wind resources and installed as well as planned generation capacity; utility turbines and generating equipment; resource assessment and siting issues; regional power grids and transmission access; ownership; and government policy and incentives.
On the smaller scale, he will evaluate storage and grid tie-in challenges; the recovery of low-level energy; the development of the smart regional power grid; and a distributed complement to the utility supply for a local grid.
"This presentation should be a useful starting point for people who are just getting interested in becoming involved with wind energy," Bahr added. "It won't be a technical seminar for an audience already heavily involved with wind or other sustainable energy technologies."
An associate professor of engineering physics at BSU, Bahr teaches engineering mechanics and electrical engineering. He is on the BSU environmental advisory committee, a member of the Minnesota Project's Clean Energy Resource Teams Northwest Minnesota Region, and active in the Agricultural Utilization Research Institute's Minnesota Renewable Energy Roundtable.
Bahr, who has had 12 papers published in professional journals, has a doctorate in engineering physics from the University of Virginia. He has been an American Wind Energy Association member since 1998 and is a principal of 3Suns LLC, which works in research and development of sustainable technologies.
The presentation is part of an ongoing series of Bemidji Area Natural Resources Continuing Education Consortium programs. Groups participating in organizing the consortium include the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, the Chippewa National Forest, Leech Lake Division of Resource Management, Ainsworth, and the Red Lake Reservation.
Formed in 1997, the Center for Research and Innovation is an off-campus facility operated by Bemidji State University to assist businesses, organizations and individuals in gaining new knowledge, achieving applied experience, and improving successes.
The CRI annually serves more than 2500 individuals and 400 businesses by providing corporate and custom training, delivering non-credit online learning, creating multimedia solutions, offering strategic organizational development, and coordinating regular informational programs in such areas as natural resources and work safety.
Individuals who wish to be added to the Bemidji Area Natural Resources Continuing Education Consortium mailing list or have questions about this program should contact the Bemidji State University Center for Research and Innovation at (218) 755-4900; toll free, (888) 738-3224; email, cri@bemidjistate.edu ; or at the Web site www.optivation.org .